Characterization of the engineering flow in a miniaturised bioreactor by computational fluid dynamics

Three approaches based on computational fluid dynamics(CFD) techniques have been assessed for their ability to describe the engineering flow environment in a miniaturized mechanically agitated bioreactor. The three approaches tested were the source-sink (SS), the multiple reference frames(MRF) and the sliding grids (SG). In all the cases, the predictions of the velocity components agree with reported experimental data. However, the analysis of the results of the turbulent intensities predicted by the three approaches indicates the MRF and the SG techniques under predicted turbulent intensities are comparable to both experimental measurements and the SS method. The predicted power number and pumping number based on the SS approach are closer to typical reported experimental values compared to those obtained from the MRF and SG methods.